Local Bowling Notes

For the third season, the Ballston Spa Merchants League is rolling again at Burnt Hills Lanes, Wednesday nights at 6:30 p.m. The league began in the 1940s as the “Victory League” but changed the name in the 1950s was at Tippy Bowl. They moved to Burnt Hills when it reopened two seasons ago under the Scaccia-ownership. They, too, are looking for subs. Contact Mike Gnip at 885-8296 for more information.

Ballston Spa Merchants Bowling League

Oct. 23

Team Standings

1. Streever Agency 39

2. Aamtrust Mortgage 35

3. Gnip Surveying 35

4. Buhrmaster Energy Group 32

5. Tim’s Home Maintenance 30

6. B & L Control 28

7. Champagne Builders 25

8. Gil’s Garage 21

9. Lee’s Park Campground 20

10. Hawk Drilling Co. 15

High 8 Bowlers

1. Steve Ludwin 231-190-231=652

2. James Nobile 211-235-203=649

3. Jason Abraham 209-222-206=637

4. Tim Ramsey 169-208-243=620

5. Joe Friello 246-205-163=614

6. Ed Pickett Jr. 196-185-232=613

7. Andy Harpine 202-242-163=607

8. Cliff Miller Sr. 248-139-215=602

BURNT HILLS SCRATCH CHALLENGE

Friday, Oct. 25: At Burnt Hills Lanes, there’s a Scratch Challenge at 7 p.m. Bowlers roll five games across five pairs, dropping the low game. 1-in-5 advance to a one-game roll-off, and every qualifier cashes. Entry fee: $30/person. Call Chris (337-8128) or Burnt Hills Lanes (399-0999) for more information.

LANSINGBURGH BOWLING BOOST

The Lansingburgh Bowling Booster Club is holding a Scotch Doubles fundraiser on Friday, Nov. 15 at 9:00 p.m. at Alpha Lanes. Cost is $20/couple with three games, 50/50 raffle and Chinese Auction. Contact Terri Jacobs at 235-0770 for reservations.

TROY 800: MCCART OVER LAMB

For the 14th time, Barbecue Recreation in Hoosick Falls hosted the Troy 800 Tournament. Tim McCart won his first title in this event, topping Ed Lamb 279-223 on Saturday, Oct. 26.

Notable scores: 10AM: Matt Sherman opened his 781 triple with a perfect game; defending champion Brian Mariano had a 299 in his middle game; new Troy Hall of Famer Darrell Coonrad shot a 706 to finish seventh in the early squad; four-time champion including ’10 & ’11 Craig Morrell shot the “evil” triple 666; 1PM: New Troy Hall of Famer Don Michalski shot 642; Paul Dumas Jr. shot 632 and his father was right behind him at 623; Joe Peterson took the minimum 360 (120 per) as a no-show.

On Sunday, Oct. 20, Tim Banta of Amsterdam won his first New England Bowlers Association (NEBA) tournament title. He beat Connecticut’s Bill Webb 238-216 at Laurel Lanes in Plainville, CT. Banta won $1,500 plus a $100 entry into the Tournament of Champions which will be rolled December 1 in Cranston, RI. There were 140 entries and 32 qualifiers.

The #4-seeded Webb, who threw a 300-game in the semifinals, earned $900 as runner-up. Webb, an eight-time NEBA Player of the Year, won the Doubles event September 28-29 in East Providence, RI with Bill Green.

Banta was the #18-seed, first beating #15-seed Norm Major 235-202; then def. #31-seed Chris Carlson 204-160; in the third round, Banta def. #23-seed Alex Aguiar 257-216 in the quarterfinals; in the semis, he got past #27-seed Greg Schon 233-156.

Broadalbin’s Steve Wagoner also cashed, $180, after the #19-seed lost in the first round of Match Play to #14-seed Tim Gillick 193-142. Todd Lathrop was the top-seed as high qualifier at 1,224 to earn a bonus $75.

Saturday, Oct. 26: At Sunset Recreation, Marty Nash qualified for the rolloffs in the last wildcard spot and then went on to defeat Bob Northrup 237-221 in the New Era Bowling Tournaments, which is now in its third full season. Nash is now two-for-two in New Era events he’s entered. Jenean Bailey was the top woman qualifier with 911, third highest for the tournament. She also won two scratch pots for single games.

Notes: Chris Fedden was the high-qualifier, 50-pins better than next competitor; Valatie’s Pete Linck had high-game for the tournament, 280; David Henderson’s streak of seven consecutive cashes ended, according to New Era founder Jim Burton.

The majority of the tournaments will be combined seniors and women (N.E.W.S.), a trio of seniors’ events (N.E.S.T.) and at least one competition for the ladies (N.E.W.T.). Women’s division: 4 games of qualifying crossing 8 lanes; 1/3 of all entries cash and advance to match game finals; 1-in-4 seniors (50-59, 60-66, 67+) and 1-in-4 women advance to finals; additional finalists are WILD CARDS (highest remaining scores from the field of non-qualifiers, regardless of division); seedings for finals based upon total pin-fall; membership fee is $25 @ $5 per tournament; entry fee $60; prize fund is the total of all entry fees minus lineage; all qualifiers guaranteed a minimum of $80

Nov. 23: 1:30 p.m., Town n’ Country (New Era Women & Seniors)

Dec. 7: TBD (New Era Women & Seniors)

Jan. 4, 2014: 12:00 p.m., ST-Latham (New Era Women & Seniors)

Jan. 25, 2014: 2:00 p.m., Towne Academy (New Era Women)

4 games of qualifying crossing 8 lanes; 1-in-5 cash and advance to match game finals; seedings based on total pin-fall; entry fee $50; side pots and brackets available

Brian LeClair of Albany is T114 with tom Daugherty of Wesley Chapel, FL at the World Series of Bowling in Las Vegas, NV. LeClair’s average is 200.14 and he has 613.50 points. http://www.pba.com/Tournaments/WorldSeries for more information.

CDYST: HOMETOWN NOV. 9

It’s the fourth season of the Capital District Youth Scholarship Tour. CDYST offers top juniors head-to-head, tournament conditions and offers scholarships. Last year, run by Mark Taylor and Steve Fawcett, it gave out over $15,000. Season membership $30 and each tournament entry is $30 in advance or $32 the day of the event.

CDYST has a new sponsor: “Bowling This Month” magazine. All new members get a free 12-month subscription. Their website at www.cdystbowling.com or e-mail tournament directors Mark Taylor and Steve Fawcett at CDYSTinfo@aol.com, or call 518-982-0035.

A bonus this year is the 2014 Junior Gold and Youth Open Championships are in-state. They will be held in Buffalo in July. Among CDYST’s draw, several events are Junior Gold qualifiers. For more information, call 982-0035 or visit www.cdystinfo.com.

SCHEDULE

Nov. 9: 1 p.m., Hometown Lanes

Nov. 23: 1:30 p.m., Sportsman’s Bowl

Dec. 14: 1 p.m., Del Lanes

Dec. 29-30: Holiday Open at Towne

NBA: 2013-14 FULL SCHEDULE

The Northern Bowlers Association is back Nov. 17 at Uncle Sam Lanes in Troy. Its schedule has expanded from last year with four regular-season events and finishes with the Bob Guild Championship at Del Lanes for those who have qualified. Paid membership is $15 while the entry fee is up $5 to $55. The final four will have both open and women’s divisions. All are 5-game sweepers.

The biggest change this year for “Huck Finn’s Capital Region Bowling” is the channel. The show’s 10th season will be on WNYA, also known as My4Albany, purchased in the past year by Hubbard Broadcasting and now aligned with WNYT, NewsChannel 13.

The show will still air Sundays, but now at 10:30 a.m., a half-hour earlier than previous years on WXXA, Fox-23, which is now aligned with WTEN.

Gone is the guaranteed $1,000 first place for every tournament. Now regular events will pay $600 to the winner. The three scratch/handicap tournaments will pay $1,000 on top.

Other changes include:

-Four “King of the Hill” tournaments named for the late Morris Cramer. The top two finishers in the first event, Oct. 27 at Town ‘n Country, will advance to TV for a three-game, total-pins match. The winner defends his title on the next taping. KOTH pays $800 plus bonus money on TV

-Adult/Child Doubles: The inaugural Adult/Child event named for the late Joey Schmidt will be in February.

SHOW #1: SCRATCH SINGLES “KICK OFF” EVENT

FIRST QUALIFIERS

TV taping: Sunday, Nov. 3, Middleburgh, 4 p.m.

TV air date: Sunday, Nov. 10 (WNYA), 10:30 a.m.

SUMMARY: In the first scratch qualifying for the new season of “Huck Finn’s Capital Region Bowling,” it will be Nick Galusha of Schenectady against Mark James of Hannacroix in one semifinal and Mike Drexel of Delanson against Craig Taylor of Rotterdam in the other. They survived from a field of 65 entries.

SUMMARY: In the return of the “King of the Hill” matches, Joe Mazuryk of Delanson, who placed second in qualifying, will face R.J. Martinez of Ballston Spa, who was fifth, in a three-game TV match to be taped this Sunday, Nov. 3 on “Huck Finn’s Capital Region Bowling.” It will be taped at Middleburgh Lanes at 6:00 p.m. Ron Gardner of Brunswick led the 42 entrants with a total of 1,144 at Town ‘n Country Lanes in Guilderland on Sunday, Oct. 27.

Bowling.com, the leading online source for bowling gear, will be the title sponsor for the United States Bowling Congress Youth Open Championships starting in 2014.

The national championship for youth bowlers now will be known as the Bowling.com Youth Open Championships presented by USBC. The two-year agreement includes title sponsorship of the USBC Youth Open Championships West Region.

“We’re thrilled to have our name associated with this great event,” said Ben Dodson, Head of Business Development for Bowling.com. “Our organization is focused on the continued support of youth bowling, and we look forward to helping crown a new group of national champions in July.”

The Nacogdoches, Texas-based company has been active in recent months with its support of youth bowling. In August, Bowling.com became a founding partner of the Youth Education Services (YES) Fund.

“Bowling.com continues to show its dedication to youth bowling by supporting the Youth Open Championships,” said Chad Murphy, International Bowling Campus Managing Director of Youth Development. “This is a great partnership, and we’re excited to work together to bring youth bowlers this outstanding tournament.”

The Bowling.com Youth Open Championships presented by USBC is a non-qualifying tournament open to all USBC Youth members. The national event features four age-based divisions - Under 8, Under 12, Under 15 and Under 20. New for 2014 will be separate singles and doubles divisions for girls.

The 2014 event will be held at AMF Thruway Lanes in Cheektowaga, N.Y., from July 10-27.

The Bowling.com Youth Open Championships West Region presented by USBC, which made its debut in the summer of 2013, will take place June 21-22 at Cal Bowl in Lakewood, Calif.

Registration is now open for both events. For more information and to register online, visit BOWL.com/YouthOpen.

About International Bowling Campus

The International Bowling Campus (IBC) is the headquarters for the bowling industry and directly serves the more than 71 million bowlers in the United States. The IBC houses the resources of the United States Bowling Congress, the governing body and membership organization for the sport; the Bowling Proprietors’ Association of America, representing the business interests of bowling centers; Strike Ten Entertainment, the marketing arm for the industry; the International Bowling Museum and Hall of Fame; The Bowling Foundation; the International Bowling Pro Shop and Instructors Association; the International Bowling Media Association; the Bowling News Network; the Billiard and Bowling Institute of America; and the International Training and Research Center.

NEW BOWLING SHOES

(press release)

St. Louis, MO (PRWEB) October 22, 2013: For recreational bowlers, properly fitted bowling shoe can make a world of difference. Athletic styled bowling shoes feature the look, feel and responsiveness of a regular athletic shoe. Typically, this style of bowling shoe will have a sliding sole and both shoes, which is good choice for either left-handed or right-handed bowlers. If you bowl in a league once a week, the best shoe choice will be among the athletically styled bowling shoes. Owning your own shoes is a good investment, saving rental fees.

The next step up from a typical athletic style shoe is one specifically designed for a right-handed bowler, who slides on the left foot, or a left-handed bowler, who slides with the right foot. The sliding shoe has a sole which allows the bowler to slide freely during the ball delivery. The other shoe has a sole which grips the lane approach allowing for a strong push off and steady footwork through the delivery.

Performance bowling shoes have evolved to a high-tech level. These styles have soles (and sometimes heels) that can be quickly changed out to fit the needs of a specific bowling lane approach surface. While these models are quite a bit more expensive, they can be economical over the long run, as worn out soles can be economically replaced by the bowler.

Specifically choosing the correct performance bowling shoes will lead to the bowler’s performance improving overall.

Some styles of bowling shoes may feature padded linings and collars, which can provide a bowler with extra comfort. The added stability and extra support can go a long way in improving performance of a bowler. Choosing a bowling shoe with breathable uppers or made in natural leather is a good option also to prevent uncomfortable excess moisture.

SmartBowler dealers offer industry-leading bowling shoe brands such as Brunswick, Dexter and Etonic. To view the listing of all bowling shoe styles, please visit the website at http://www.smartbowler.com and click either men’s or women’s shoes. SmartBowler.com recommends that bowlers visit a pro shop to be fitted for their first pair of shoes. Keep in mind that rental shoe sizes frequently do not translate to personal shoes. Even if consumers think that they know their proper shoe size, its best to double check before making an investment in a bowling shoe.

About SmartBowler

SmartBowler pro shops are dedicated to providing bowlers at all levels the best in products, services, and guidance to enhance their enjoyment of the game.

When it comes to products, SmartBowler pro shops can supply all the major brands at prices competitive with any online dealer. SmartBowler pro shops do not have hidden fees for shipping and handling and provide service after the sale to help bowlers maintain their equipment. Warranty service is generally free.

The main objective of a SmartBowler pro shop is to improve the bowler’s performance and thus the enjoyment of bowling. That’s the reason smart bowlers go to their SmartBowler pro shop to get the most value from their recreational dollar and time.